Irish Mensa Lecture & Discussion: Galileo's Journey to the Underworld: The Case for Interdisciplinary Thinking

In 1588, the young Galileo delivered some lectures that were impressive enough to secure him a mathematics professorship at the University of Pisa. His subject? The geometry of Dante's Inferno. In Gresham College's Annual Provost's Lecture, Professor Sarah Hart looks at some of Galileo's deductions, and how the questions raised may have influenced his later mathematical research. Using this and other examples of creative work in mathematics that crosses our modern ideas of subject boundaries, the lecture will argue that thinking across disciplines is not only intellectually exciting but academically vital.

Our Speaker:
Sarah Hart was the first woman Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, and Acting Provost between March and October 2025. She is also Professor Emerita of Mathematics at Birkbeck, University of London.

Her academic publications have been mainly in the area of pure mathematics known as group theory, which has many applications both inside and outside of mathematics, for example in coding theory and cryptography. She is actively involved in the British Society for the History of Mathematics, and has served a three-year term as President of the Society from 2021-23.

Her book Once Upon a Prime: the Wondrous Connections between Mathematics and Literature, was published in 2023, and has been positively reviewed in the press, including The Sunday Times, The Observer, The Economist, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal.

This is a FREE virtual event, with no need to register in advance. Just click on the Zoom link when it is time to join the meeting.

Join Zoom Meeting: https://tinyurl.com/mrxzbn7m
Meeting ID: 827 7419 3123
Passcode: 850078

The lecture will take place at 7 p.m. Irish time. Consider using WorldTimeBuddy for your local equivalent: https://tinyurl.com/34vdad2j.

For more information, contact Mary Reilly at mary@craftcottage.ie.